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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Logan, Utah » Forage and Range Research » Research » Research Project #426645

Research Project: Development of Improved Grass and Legume Germplasm and Management Technologies for Use in Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Pastures

Location: Forage and Range Research

Project Number: 2080-21000-014-031-N
Project Type: Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: May 1, 2014
End Date: Apr 30, 2019

Objective:
The objective of this cooperative research project is to develop technologies and methodologies associated with grass endophytes and evaluate plant germplasm (grass and legumes) for use in irrigated and non-irrigated pastures.

Approach:
Collaborative experiments will be designed and implemente4d either in the laboratory or the field depending upon the objective. Laboratory exsperiments will be conducted jointly in Logan, Utah, and the Center for Frigid Zone Plant Gene Resource Research of Heilongjiang Province, China (CFZPR) where endophytes and evaluation of germplasm for abiotic stress environments are involved. Where experiments involve the development of technologies (morphological and molecular) for endophyte identification, work will be performed in Logan, Utah. Germplasm evaluation of Chinese and U.S. grass and legume accessions (cultivars and lines) will be conducted in the Great Basin region of Utah and in the Heilongjiang Province, China, under irrigated and non-irrigated growing areas as deemed appropriate. This research will attempt to: 1) Evaluate the performance of grasses and legumes under abiotic stress conditions; 2) Develop breeding methodologies for improved agronomic performance of pasture species (grasses and legumes), 3) Evaluate the nutritional quality of pasture species in animal production (e.g., dairy cattle and sheep); 4) Develop methodologies associated with the identification of endophytes and their inoculation into novel grass plants; 5) Develop methodologies (morphological, biochemical, and molecular) which will identify specific endophytes; and 6) Evaluate agronomic performance of endophyte (+) and non-endophyte (-) containing novel Chinese and U.S. grass germplasm along with appropriate + or - endophyte containing control germplasm under differing growing conditions (e.g., abiotic and biotic stress).